Hero
by emptysummer
Summary: One shot. Harry in all his configurations.


**Hero**

Yeah I have no idea where this came from. Written in half an hour so it's a bit rough. Enjoy.

Also I need prompts for Wishlist 2011. Help me out folks, the link is in my profile.

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><p>Harry is small, lonely, bleeding, with clouded green eyes and matted hair stuck to his scalp. Harry is an only child abandoned on cold night. Harry is afraid but he swears there will be no more fear. He breaks that promise when his uncle returns.<p>

No.

Harry is laughing, thrown into the air by his godfather, his parents looking on indulgently. Harry has eyes the color of spring and a laugh always and untamable hair and two younger siblings.

No.

Harry is Harriet called Harry and her Aunt loves her even if her Uncle does not. She has eyes of jade and cheerful smile. She loves her family very much and waist length hair that less tangled when it is long.

No.

Harry is bone pale, watching his brother with a sneer. Harry has eyes the color of death and hair like a raven's wing. Harry has a twin, and wears silver and green like he was born to it.

No.

Harry is Harry, made up of a constellation of events that change with every mirror.

Yes.

Harry is not afraid as he boards the train with his two best mates, both purebloods. He will be a Gryffindor and so will they and together they will laugh and fall in love and drink and philosophize in the way all drunks do. They will hate Slytherins for being snakes and mock Hufflepuffs for being duffers and suck-up to Ravenclaws for help with their homework. Nothing will shake their friendship and the world will fall at their feet, because they are young and handsome and laughing.

In this world they burn.

Harry is not afraid as he adjusts his glasses and falls in alongside a bushy haired girl, who's carrying a trunk and looks roughly his age. He introduces himself quiet and polite and she smiles revealing buckteeth and recites the books he appeared in. He counters with three more she didn't mention and tells her he needs help getting on the platform. He knows with unshakeable certainty that he will be a Ravenclaw, and she wants to be in Gryffindor, home of the brave. They sit together because neither of them knows anybody and the entire trip is spent in solitude, both reading the extra material they purchased. Occasionally they switch books if both are reading something that the other has not seen before.

In this world he lets them burn.

Harry is not afraid as he separates from his elder brother the moment they are out of Lily and James sight. He disdains company and sets up in a compartment at the end of the train and throws up several privacy wards and spends the train ride trying to make a choice. Because there is always a choice but as it stands his options are few and between. Resolve settles in his stomach and he squares his shoulders as he marches to the hat. It takes him fifteen minutes to be sorted and he slumps at the snake's table knowing that his life is going to be very difficult for the next seven years.

In this world he burns them.

Harry is not afraid as smiling as she waves her Aunt away. She asked Tom the bartender how to get onto the platform so she resolutely steps into what is supposed to be a brick wall and hears the shouts of children in front of her before she works up her courage to open her eyes. She smiles happy and drags her trunk behind her to the steps of the train and is trying to work out how to get it on the train when a blonde boy with a pointed face shoves her against the train and calls her mudblood. It's inexplicable and she's afraid until a redhead marches over and slaps the boy. The redheads name is Susan and she helps Harry get the trunk into the compartment before they go back for Susan's, chattering the whole way. They are thick as thieves four hours later and both proudly sport yellow and black and crushes on the handsome three years older boy who promised to show them the giant squid.

In this world she fights to her last breath and dies with blood on her lips and a name on her tongue and they still burn.

Harry is afraid as he looks for the way on to the platform, overhearing a family of redheads he asks for help forcing the words over his tongue. The twins help him get his trunk into his compartment and he gains a friend in the process and the pale rude boy tries to break it up and he hates. He learns more then he'd thought possible in the train ride and Hogwarts is breathtaking. The hat whispers you could be great and he hesitates and hisses yes, parseltongue sliding from him.

In this world he saves them.


End file.
